Shuttle mission complete; astronauts ready to head home

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Astronaut Garrett Reisman is in hot water with his wife.

When asked Monday what he was looking forward to most about returning to Earth this weekend after three months in space, he summed it up in two words: Simone Francis.

“She was furious with me for embarrassing her like that,” Reisman said with a laugh Tuesday. “But the truth is that when I look out the window at the planet and I look down at all the people down there, I’m usually just thinking about just one of all those billions of people. And that’s definitely what I’m looking forward to seeing the most.”

A few minutes later, a TV interviewer told Reisman it was “the most romantic answer I think I’ve ever heard about what you miss most on Earth.”

Reisman was going to be on the shuttle side of the hatches later Tuesday, following their closing at the international space station. He moved into the space station in March and was replaced by astronaut Gregory Chamitoff, who flew up on Discovery for a six-month stay.

“This is a hand-over between one Jewish astronaut and another, so we’re pretty excited about that,” Chamitoff said.

Chamitoff, 45, an aeronautics researcher, took up some bagels to share with Reisman — they were made by Chamitoff’s family in Montreal — as well as a few mezuzahs that he’s flying for friends. He said he can’t install the mezuzahs, religious objects attached to the entrances of Jewish homes, because “we can’t decorate the space station as we like.”

Reisman, 40, a mechanical engineer, spent the past week showing Chamitoff the ropes and gave him his phone number in case he needed to ask something. “He’s probably going to change his number,” Chamitoff said, laughing.

Discovery is scheduled to pull away from the space station on Wednesday, ending a nine-day visit that was highlighted by the installation of a brand new Japanese lab.

The shuttle is due back on Earth on Saturday.

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